In a large saute pan, brown your ground beef over medium high heat. Use the back of your spoon to break the beef up.
While it’s browning add your dried minced onions, garlic powder and also add some salt and pepper to taste.

Once the beef is fully browned, add your diced tomatoes, diced green chiles, tomato sauce, chicken broth, taco seasoning, black beans in their juice and frozen corn. Mix well and bring to this to a boil.
Once it’s boiling, stir in your box of Barilla Pronto Penne Pasta and cover. DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAT DOWN, leave it at medium high.
Cook covered for 8 minutes, stirring once in a while.
Once you’re at the 8 minute mark, stir in 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and then sprinkle the remaining cup of cheddar cheese over the top.
Cover the pasta again and cook for 2 more minutes.
Sprinkle with green onions and crumbled tortilla chips and enjoy! #mexicanfood#homemade#yummy

Taco Tuesday is my favorite dinner night of the week! (Not that I won’t eat tacos on other days; I’m not crazy!) Here’s what’s on the menu for tonight: oven-baked tacos, Mexican rice, and refried beans. I’m hungry already! Here are the recipes:

Oven-Baked Tacos (couldn’t get much easier…I use those shells with the flat bottoms)

Brown your ground beef and drain completely, then add refried beans, taco seasoning and about half a can of tomato sauce. Mix together and scoop into taco shells, (stand them up in a casserole dish). Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

In a small sauce pan combine the refried beans, sour cream, and hot sauce over medium-low heat. Stir constantly and when the beans are heated through (don’t bring it to boiling) remove from heat and pour into a glass pie pan or 9×9 dish.

Top with grated cheese and heat in the oven or microwave until cheese is melted.

Today I’m making two big batches of soup. We’ll have some for supper, then the rest will be frozen in individual servings for later. I love soup any time of year. Tonight I’m making White Bean, Kale, & Carrot and Veggie Corn Chowder. I’ll also make a pan of cornbread because…well…cornbread!

In a stock/soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add garlic and onion; saute until soft.
Stir in broth, carrots, beans, seasonings, garlic and onion.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until carrots are almost tender, stirring occasionally.
Add kale; cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until kale is done, stirring occasionally.

Here’s the recipe for Veggie Corn Chowder (from 100 Days of Read Food)

1. In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep whisking until the mixture darkens but does not burn, 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and stir occasionally until the veggies begin to soften, 5-6 minutes.
3. Add the corn, salt, and pepper to the pot and cook, stirring, for another 2 or 3 minutes. (If using frozen corn, add a minute to the cooking time.)
4. Pour in the chicken stock and milk and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened.
5. Partially puree the soup by transferring only half to a countertop blender, then returning the puree to the pot, or by sticking a hand immersion blender in the pot and briefly pureeing for less than a minute. Ladle into soup bowls and serve warm or freeze in individual portions for another day.

And finally, here’s the cornbread recipe. I could just eat the whole pan right out of the oven. I heat one greased iron skillet in the oven while it’s preheating and use another iron skillet to prepare the cornbread in. Cornbread batter poured into an already hot iron skillet has the perfectly crunchy crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.